This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
Six North Korean military officers were among about 20 military personnel killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on Russian-occupied territory near the city of Donetsk, a Ukrainian news agency reported.
Citing sources in Ukraine’s military intelligence, Interfax-Ukraine said three North Korean servicemen were also wounded. Ukraine’s Kyiv Post reported that the attack happened on Thursday, citing intelligence sources.
Interfax-Ukraine, in its report on Friday, cited Russian bloggers as saying that North Korean military officers were visiting the front as part of an “exchange of experience” program.
The North Korean military was shown how the Russians were “preparing for assault actions, for defense,” when “a missile strike was launched on the training ground,” the Ukrainian news agency added.
Radio Free Asia could not independently verify the reports. Russian and North Korean state-media have not reported on any such incident.
The reports came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia.
“Russia has no legitimate reason – none at all – for making Iran and North Korea de facto accomplices in its criminal war,” Zelensky told the U.N. Security Council in September.
Western intelligence agencies have also accused North Korea of providing large amounts of weapons to Russia, although North Korea and Russia have both denied that.
In response to Zelensky’s remarks, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, said she was issuing a “stern warning” against his “reckless political provocation.”
Ukrainian intelligence officials said last year that North Korean military personnel, including engineers, were operating in Russian-occupied territory.
The Ukrainian government has also alleged that Russia was planning to mobilize North Korean laborers for various construction projects in occupied territories, including Donetsk and Luhansk.
The United States has said North Korea has in particular supplied Russia with artillery rounds and ballistic missiles, in exchange for Russian technological assistance for its space program.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service also said Russia has received more than one million artillery shells from North Korea and has fired North Korean-made ballistic missiles at Ukraine.
